Spate of ‘flashing’ exposure incidents leads to police warning

Alex Evans

Police have issued a warning to residents in part of South Yorkshire after a series of indecent exposures in town in the past week.

Officers are visiting residents in the Rawmarsh and Swinton areas of Rotherham following a number of reports of indecent exposures.

In the last week, multiple reports of indecent exposure have been received by police.

On Monday 4 January at 4pm, there were two reports of an unknown man throwing stones at the windows of an elderly care home in Wortley Avenue.

Later at around 6pm, there were two further incidents at an elderly woman’s property in Valley Road and at a property in Piccadilly Road.

When the residents went to the window, the man is believed to have exposed himself while being verbally abusive.

On Thursday 7 January at around 5pm, police received a further report of a similar nature, where a man knocked on the door of a property belonging to an elderly resident in Valley Road, Swinton.

He is then alleged to have been verbally abusive and exposed himself.

Inspector Jenny Lax, who leads the Local Policing Team for that area, said: “These incidents are clearly very distressing for the elderly residents involved and we are working hard to identify this individual.

“We have increased our presence in the area and our Police Community Support Officers are carrying out house to house enquiries to provide reassurance and gather as much information as we can.

“As part of this, we are also reviewing any CCTV that may be available.

“We believe these incidents are likely linked to each other and being committed by one individual, who has been described as a young white man.

“If you have elderly relatives that live in the area, I’d ask that you make them aware of these incidents and pass on our reassurances that we are doing everything we can to find this person.

“I’d really like to hear from anyone who can help us identify or locate this individual, or anyone who has witnessed any suspicious behaviour of this nature in this area recently.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or email enquiries@southyorks.pnn.police.uk quoting incident number 735 of 7 January 2016.

If a crime is in progress or you have concerns for yours or another’s safety, please call 999.

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